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Docs: Some tweaks in the old .ame files
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The old .ame files should be quite a useful starting point for the new
readme/manual page.
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skyjake committed Mar 19, 2011
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2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion doomsday/engine/doc/ame/beginner.ame
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@begin

CONTENTS: @contents{1}
@toc

@chapter{ What do you need? }

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8 changes: 3 additions & 5 deletions doomsday/engine/doc/ame/jake.ah
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
$ My contact info.
@macro{AUTHOR}{ Jaakko Ker�nen }
@macro{EMAIL}{ skyjake@@doomsdayhq.com }
@macro{LINK}{ http://www.doomsdayhq.com/ }
@macro{LINK2}{ http://deng.sourceforge.net/ }
@macro{HTMLHEADER}{ @tag{<!--BEGIN INSERT-->}@apply{@n}{.} }
@macro{AUTHOR}{ Jaakko Keränen }
@macro{EMAIL}{ jaakko.keranen@@iki.fi }
@macro{LINK}{ http://www.dengine.net/ }
79 changes: 38 additions & 41 deletions doomsday/engine/doc/ame/readme.ame
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@begin

CONTENTS: @contents{1}
@toc

@chapter{ Introduction }

The Doomsday Engine is an enhanced Doom source port for the Windows,
Mac OS X, and Linux platforms. It is based on the source code of id Software's
Doom and Raven Software's Heretic and Hexen. The Doomsday Engine and
the associated ports of Doom, Heretic and Hexen have been under
development since 1999. The first versions were released in late 1999
and early 2000. Most of the development work has been done by Jaakko
Ker�nen (skyjake). Several other people have also been involved in the
project (see @ref{acks}{Acknowledgements}).

The purpose of the project is to create versions of Doom, Heretic and
Hexen that feel the same as the original games but are implemented
using modern techniques such as 3D graphics and client/server
networking. A lot of emphasis is placed on good-looking graphics.

The Doomsday Engine is an enhanced Doom source port for the Windows, Mac OS X,
and Linux platforms. It is based on the source code of id Software's Doom and
Raven Software's Heretic and Hexen. The Doomsday Engine and the associated
ports of Doom, Heretic and Hexen have been under development since 1999. The
first versions were released in late 1999 and early 2000. Most of the
development work has been done by Jaakko Keränen (skyjake). Several other
people have also been involved in the project (see
@ref{acks}{Acknowledgements}).

The purpose of the project is to create versions of Doom, Heretic and Hexen
that feel the same as the original games but are implemented using modern
techniques such as 3D graphics and client/server networking. A lot of emphasis
is placed on good-looking graphics.

@section{ Features }

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@chapter{ Running from the Command Line }
@chapter{ Running from the command line }

@section{ File Paths on the Command Line }
@section{ File paths on the command line }

There are a few things you should know about the handling of relative
paths. First of all, these are the directories that the engine is working
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -203,9 +202,9 @@ data related to it would lead to fatal errors.



@chapter{ Data and Definitions Files }
@chapter{ Data and definitions files }

@section{ PK3 Files }
@section{ PK3 files }

Doomsday supports the PK3 (i.e. ZIP) format. Compression is allowed,
but encryption is not. If you try to load an encrypted or password
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -249,7 +248,7 @@ PK3. If the directory begins with @file{#}, it is mapped into



@section{ Definitions and Files in WADs }
@section{ Definitions and files in WADs }

After all DED files have been processed, the engine will check through all the loaded WAD files for lumps named @file{DD_DEFNS}. All the lumps with that name are processed just as if they were DED files, i.e. they should contain a DED file in plain text format. The @file{DD_DEFNS} lumps are applied in the order in which they have been loaded.

Expand All @@ -272,7 +271,7 @@ directory. When writing the @file{DD_DIREC} table, the prefix



@section{ Automatical Loading of Data and Definitions }
@section{ Automatical loading of data and definitions }

All WAD, PK3, ZIP and LMP files placed in the @file{ Data\<Game>\Auto\
} directory will be automatically loaded at startup. The data files
Expand All @@ -289,7 +288,7 @@ will also be loaded.



@section{ Virtual Directory Mapping }
@section{ Virtual directory mapping }

Version 1.8.7 introduces virtual directory mappings, which allows you
to make the contents of one directory appear inside another directory
Expand All @@ -315,7 +314,7 @@ all real files and virtual files override @opt{-vdmap}.



@section{ Lump Assemblies instead of WADs }
@section{ Lump assemblies instead of WADs }

The automatic loading of data files can be utilised to load
directories that contain individual data lumps. This kind of a
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@chapter{ Graphics }

@section{ 3D Models as Particles }
@section{ 3D models as particles }

3D models can be used as particles in a particle generator. There are two things that need to be done. In the particle generator definition, set the particle stage's type to one of the @opt{pt_model} flags. The following would make the stage use particle model number 13:

Expand All @@ -380,7 +379,7 @@ For further details see the DED Reference.



@section{ Detail Textures }
@section{ Detail textures }

Detail textures are grayscale images that are rendered on top of
normal textures when walls and planes are viewed from close by. A
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$ External resource files.
@chapter{ Resource Files }
@chapter{ Resource files }

Normally all resources such as wall textures, menu graphics and fonts, background music and sound effects are loaded from the WAD files. Doomsday has a mechanism that allows replacing these resources with external resource files placed in specific directories. The files are called
'external' because they are regular files and not part of a WAD file.
Expand All @@ -448,7 +447,7 @@ For example, sound effects for jDoom would be placed in the directory @file{ Dat



@section{ Game Modes }
@section{ Game modes }

One Game DLL, such as jDoom, is able to run in many different modes. Each mode emulates a specific version of the original game and typically has its own IWAD file. In some cases two modes can have a resource with the same name. This is a problem if the same resource file can't be used by both modes.

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -479,7 +478,7 @@ For example, textures meant only for Final Doom: Plutonia Experiment would be pl



@section{ Textures and Flats }
@section{ Textures and flats }

Normal wall textures and flats can be replaced with TGA (Truevision Targa),
PNG (Portable Network Graphics) or PCX (Zsoft Paintbrush) images. The
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -571,7 +570,7 @@ Currently external patch resources are not precached, which may cause slight del



@section{ Sprite Frames }
@section{ Sprite frames }

Sprite frames are patches. They can be replaced with external resources just like all other patches. The same restrictions apply, though: the dimensions of the external resource do not affect the actual size of the sprite frame. This means the external resources must really be @em{high-resolution} versions of the original images. Otherwise the size and/or aspect ratio will not be right for the resource.

Expand All @@ -585,13 +584,13 @@ Color-mapped versions of sprite frames can have external resources, too. To indi



@section { Raw Screens }
@section { Raw screens }

Some background pictures are in the raw screen format, which is used to store 320 x 200 pixel paletted images. A lump containing a raw screen image (for example Heretic's TITLEPIC) is exactly 320 x 200 = 64000 bytes long. Raw screens can be replaced with external resources in the @file{Patches} directory.



@section{ Light Maps }
@section{ Light maps }

Light maps are monochrome images that can be used with dynamic lights. The dimensions of a light map must be powers of two, for example 256 x 256. If the map contains an alpha channel, the actual color values are ignored; only the alpha values are significant. If the map doesn't have an alpha channel, one is generated by averaging the color values of the image.

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -647,7 +646,7 @@ key:
@code{CD track = 3;}


@section{ Sound Effects }
@section{ Sound effects }

Sound samples can be replaced with WAV files. The supported formats are 8-bit and 16-bit mono PCM with no compression. The @file{Sfx} resource class directory is searched using the lump names of the original samples. For example, to replace jDoom's rocket launcher sound, the file @file{dsrlaunc.wav} would be placed in the @file{Sfx} directory.

Expand All @@ -659,7 +658,7 @@ Doomsday will automatically detect the format of a sample if it's loaded from a

@chapter{ Plugins }

@section{ glBSP Map Loader }
@section{ glBSP map loader }

It is no longer necessary to run glBSP manually on WAD files because
Doomsday now includes glBSP as a plugin that is run automatically when
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -689,7 +688,7 @@ There are subdirectories for each game mode and WAD. You are free to
delete the cache directory at any time.


@section{ Dehacked Patches }
@section{ Dehacked patches }

Most features of Dehacked are supported by Doomsday's Dehacked reader.
The loader will print a message during startup if an unsupported
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -721,7 +720,7 @@ there is either one server or one client on a computer) are visible in
the network setup screens. The corresponding console variables are
@var{net-port-control} (TCP) and @var{net-port-data} (UDP).

@section{Server Settings}
@section{Server settings}

The server uses one TCP port for listening to incoming connections. By
default this is 13209 (setting the port to zero will mean 13209 will
Expand All @@ -732,15 +731,15 @@ messages from the clients. By default this is port 13209 (the same
number as with TCP). This port must be open for incoming and outgoing
UDP traffic.

@section{Client Settings}
@section{Client settings}

The client uses one UDP port for data messages. By default this is
13209 (just like the server). This port must be open for incoming and
outgoing UDP traffic.



@chapter{ Known Issues }
@chapter{ Known issues }

@list{
@item The list of reported bugs is on the deng Project page on SourceForge:
Expand All @@ -761,7 +760,7 @@ outgoing UDP traffic.



@chapter{ Acknowledgements and Thanks }
@chapter{ Acknowledgements and thanks }

@a{acks}
@strong{id Software}, for creating DOOM and then releasing its source code.
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -808,6 +807,4 @@ of Doom, Heretic and Hexen that play right and look nice, so I might not
think of something you'd very much like to see.

All DOOM / Heretic / Hexen fans, for keeping these excellent games alive.
Keep on playing!

Me, Jaakko Ker�nen, for writing this stuff! You rule! ;-D
Keep on playing!

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